


Accidental and Non-Repeatable

by GoodGuyJean (orphan_account)



Category: Eros Academy (Webcomic)
Genre: Friends to Lovers, I just really love Thésée and Euryale and their bromance okay lol >, I'm all about realism, Love squares, M/M, Polyamory, Roommates to lovers, but in a safe way!, but in the safest way that possibly can happen, communication will happen, post-timeline, spoilers for the webcomic, trope: drunk kiss leads to self exploration
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-01
Updated: 2019-10-01
Packaged: 2020-11-08 16:47:41
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20838791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/GoodGuyJean
Summary: Thésée and Euryale are roommates, friends, and rad-platonic-life-partners . . . until Thésée ruins everything with a kiss.Or does he?Spoilers for the end of the webcomic! Takes place when they're off to college.





	Accidental and Non-Repeatable

A shrill whistle breaks through Thésée’s dreamless sleep. It pierces his skull and embeds itself in his brain, making it ache and throb. He wants to put his hands on his ears, but his arms feel like lead. What the fuck is that noise? Also, did he go to bed with cotton in his mouth? And why does his throat hurt?

Now there’s a thunderous pounding followed by a hissing voice. “Shitshitshitshit! Sorry!” The whistling stops. Sweet relief . . . except, no, now the pounding is inside his head, and there’s a bright beam of light directly on his eyelids, making it worse. He groans and buries his face in his pillow, but although this blocks out the light, he’s too aware of his body now. And his body _hurts_.

Fuck, he’s hungover.

And he probably barfed earlier too. That would explain the burn in his throat and the horrible taste on the back of his tongue.

Not rad.

He stretches out a feeble arm to swat blindly at the curtain he knows is surrounding his bed. Even if he wanted to open his eyes, he doesn’t think he _can_, so he just prays the person on the other side knows how to interpret his signal.

Within a minute, someone gently grabs his wrist and presses a cold glass into his hand without speaking. Thank fuck; the person outside his makeshift bedroom has to be Euryale and not some straggler from the party last night. Thésée doesn’t want to deal with any of his stylist friends right now. They’re fine people just . . . fuck, he can’t even think.

Groaning, he slowly sits up and raises the glass to his dry lips. It’s just water, but it burns as it goes down. His stomach twists, then relaxes, deciding that water is acceptable. Fuck, how much did he have last night? From what he can remember, he started with vodka and orange juice and ended on straight vodka. Well, it tastes better that way in any case. Who the fuck decided orange juice and shitty vodka was the cheap uni drink? Why make a bad thing like vodka worse?

He briefly considers backtracking to remember why he was drinking so much in the first place, then makes an executive decision to let it go. Obviously, he was trying to forget something, so maybe he should just let himself forget for a moment. He’s sure it’ll come back to him eventually anyway, why make more pain? The headache is already penance.

“Hey,” Euryale’s soft voice wafts over to him. “Do you want some toast?”

Toast? His stomach doesn’t immediately reject the idea, a good sign. He nods, then realizes Euryale can’t see him, so he grunts instead.

“Okay! Coming right up.”

Euyrale is so rad. He doesn’t seem like it on the surface, because he’s perfected this normcore look, but he’s actually one of the chillest dudes Thésée knows. He’ll have to find a way to make it up to his friend and roomie. Maybe he’ll clean the whole apartment or do his laundry. Euryale hates to do laundry, that’ll be a good trade.

Euryale is also pretty chill about having people over. Thésée wouldn’t have thought it at first, but Euryale actually seems to like parties himself. Well, he’s easy to get along with, he can talk to almost anyone. And he likes Thésée’s fashion friends. Yesterday he was talking to Apollo, asking him about photographing clothes with that big interested smile he has when he’s having a good time . . . and Thésée had thought, “That’s cute” and then walked over to him to ask him about something . . . when Apollo went to get another drink . . . but instead of talking he had actually grabbed Euryale’s shoulder and kissed him straight on the mouth . . .

. . . and then turned around and barfed on the floor.

Thésée’s eyes fly open and he sloshes water on his face. “Fuck!”

“You okay?” Euryale calls.

“Yeah! Just . . .rad. Totally . . . rad.”

Shit, it’s gonna be awkward. Of all the people to drunk kiss, why’d it have to be his roommate? It’s too late to ask such an existential question though. It’s done and he has to move forward. But how to handle it? Should he just straight up apologize and get it out of the way? Or use the built-in excuse of being drunk to act like he doesn’t remember? No, that would be an awful idea. Thésée hates to lie and Euryale hates to be lied to, _especially _when it’s “for his own protection.” Now that he has actually remembered this kiss, he owes Euryale the truth and an apology. Not only was that non-consensual, but someone had probably cleaned up his barf, and in all honesty, that someone had probably been Euryale.

Really. Not. Fucking. Rad.

Muscles protesting, Thésée forces himself to stand and pokes his head out through his bedroom curtains.

Euryale is sitting at their tiny kitchen table, spreading jam on his toast while he looks at something on his laptop. He’s dressed and combed his hair already (though it’s growing out now and getting so it always looks a little unkempt), and he looks so utterly normal and unconcerned that Thésée suddenly questions his memory. Nope, he definitely kissed Euryale. He has a vague memory of the warmth of his mouth and the smell and taste of alcohol . . .

His stomach churns, but he holds in a heave. Fuck, imagine associating kissing someone with heaving . . . that’s definitely not the way to start his apology . . . he clears his throat.

Euryale looks up and smiles warmly at him. Friendly. Undisturbed. Just like he does every morning. Normal. He points to a plate next to his. “Here’s your toast.”

“Uhh . . . thanks.” His voice comes out hoarse. Sexy. Well, maybe it is actually. Also, why should he care? He doesn’t want to have this conversation in a sexy voice. “Euh, about yesterday.”

“Oh, yeah, we kissed, I know,” Euryale nods. “I also know you didn’t mean anything by it, don’t worry.”

“That doesn’t make it okay,” Thésée reminds him, stumbling into the second chair. Shit, his legs feel terrible. “Like, me being drunk doesn’t make it okay, y’know? It’s still nonconsensual and all that, and that’s so not rad. I’m sorry.”

Euryale shrugs. “Okay, apology accepted, thanks. But everything’s cool between us, honestly.”

“Oh-kay.” Thésée watches him carefully out of the corner of his eye. Euryale seems normal but . . . he’s too normal. Fake normal? Awkward normal? Or is he really just this chill about his friend and roommate coming on to him? “Well, I still wanna make it up to you for cleaning up my barf at least. Do you have any laundry?”

“No,” Euryale says, almost apologetically. “But if it'll really make you feel better, you can wash these dishes for me?”

“Done.”

Euryale closes his laptop and stands. “Okay, I got work now, I’ll be back around five.” He shoves the laptop into his backpack, slings it over his shoulder, and heads toward the door; but once there he pauses his hand on the handle, throwing another smile over his shoulder. “I’m really okay Thésée, don’t worry.” And then he’s gone, down the stairs, and (presumably) off to the train station.

Thésée sniffs his toast, peers after him, then shrugs. _He says he’s okay. He’ll tell you if he’s not. Let it go._

* * *

Euryale is not definitely not okay.

But he desperately wants to be. He manages to sit on a bench in the station instead of pacing around and freaking out the other people on their morning commute into Paris proper, but his foot taps constantly.

He kissed Thésée.

Well, Thésée kissed him. Of course, it doesn’t mean anything to his friend. Thésée kisses people all the time. So, it shouldn’t mean anything to Euryale either. He should just laugh it off. He knows he still loves Nisus, and even though he’s not “with-with” Nisus at the moment, he also knows he doesn’t want to be with anyone else at all.

Right?

Well, Thésée is also separated from the person he loves, but he and Pirithoos have agreed to see other people. And they’re not officially together themselves, they’re still kind of figuring it out. Pirithoos went south and Thésée stayed in Paris to go to stylist school, and even though he pines for Pirithoos, they both agreed not to try anything official until they’re in the same place. Euryale and Nisus . . . well, they’ve decided to spend time apart to find out who they are without the Bear and the Guffstar and each other . . . they email every so often and Euryale misses Nisus terribly, but there’s no reason he can’t see other people if wanted . . . he just doesn’t want to . . .

Right?

Yes, right. Especially not Thésée, his friend and roommate who loves someone else too. Even “no strings” would be complicated; they already have friend strings, living-together strings, loving-other-people strings and . . . ack! Why is he even considering it? Thésée didn’t mean it, he was just drunk and in a party mood and probably thought Euryale was Apollo or something . . . Apollo is very handsome, tall with some very “rad” tattoos on his arms and very “rad” shiny, curly black hair, and broader shoulders than Zephyr also, which is impressive . . . his fashion is a little lacking though, too many black hoodies, so probably just a one-night stand for Thésée, but like . . . that’s the point right? If Apollo is barely “rad” enough for a hook up, Euryale is like the most basic boy with his short, non-shiny black hair, blah t-shirts, no tattoos or piercings . . . aesthetics are so important to Thésée, he always looks amazing, even when he’s completely drunk . . .

The train pulls up to his stop and he rushes inside for a seat. He pulls his phone out of his backpack and turns on his favorite weird chemistry podcast to tune out his thoughts. When he gets home later, they’ll laugh about how Thésée kissed him and then immediately barfed. Talk about non-compatible, they’ll chuckle. A real non-starter. It was kind of a nice kiss from Euryale’s perspective but like, he was a bit tipsy himself and, it was only his second kiss, and Thésée has a lot of experience so, it makes sense that it would be nice. Anyway. He’s not supposed to be thinking about this. Chemistry. Work. Volunteering with the kids at the recreation center. He should think about those things and move on his life.

Yes, think about those things. Not accidental, non-repeatable kisses.

* * *

The next day, Thésée goes to visit Euryale on his lunch break. This is the nice part of working slightly different shifts at different cafés on the same street; you have an ally at another place willing to scrounge you up some free food that isn’t the food you’ve been making all day for ungrateful, rude customers.

They’ve got a rad system now. They get each other’s “mistake” fries—slightly overcooked or undercooked, a little too greasy or a little too cold, but still delicious because they’re free. Free is the best flavor.

As Thésée approaches the back door to the kitchen where Euryale works, Euryale pokes his head out the door to meet him, a greasy napkin clutched in his hands.

“Hey, I have dishwashing duty in a bit, so I can’t stay long, but here you go.” He drops the napkin into Thésée’s open palm. Thésée inspects them. Overcooked and too brown today, but beggars can’t be choosers. As Euryale turns to go, Thésée catches sight of his clothes beneath his apron.

“They let you wear shorts here?” he asks, surprised. “It’s not ‘too casual’?”

Euryale shrugs, already closing the door behind him. “Not usually, but the fans aren’t working and we’re dying so, we all decided to wear shorts. If they don’t like it, no workers for them.”

“Rad. Workers unite!"

Euryale laughs and then he’s gone, back to the devil’s sauna that that kitchen has surely become. Fuck, how awful that must be, in the heat of summer too. Though Euryale’s legs do seem particularly suited to shorts. These ones weren’t too high cut, just barely above the knee like most “average” guys wear these days, but they did show off his calves. Euryale has nice calves, covered in a light layer of black hair. Thésée has a passing thought about how it might be nice to touch them . . . then stifles it. He can’t have those kinds of passing thoughts anymore, not now that he’s drunk-kissed Euryale. It’s just too weird. No more little thoughts about Euryale’s ass looking nice in that one too-tight pair of jeans he has, or his arms looking nice when he rolls up his shirt sleeves--none of that. And definitely no more thinking about that kiss!

As he walks back to his job with his prize of fries, Thésée takes out his phone and opens Tinder. If he’s thirsty, he should get something to drink. And that something should not be Euryale, because even though Thésée thinks he should experiment a bit instead of pining for Nisus so damn much, probably experimenting with his friends is too emotionally messy. And Euryale needs his relationships to be distinctly not messy. Maybe Euryale should get Tinder . . . maybe he’ll talk to him about it . . . but Thésée can’t control what he does. And doesn’t want to! That wouldn’t be rad.

Thésée, can, however, distract himself.

It’s a series of left swipes though. No one looks rad, or if they do, he’s met them before and already decided no for other reasons. Maybe he should go out with Apollo and his crew again tonight instead, see who he meets at the clubs. But he should careful about how much he drinks! He doesn’t want to come back to the apartment and kiss Euryale again or something . . .

. . . or something . . .

* * *

It feels like it’s too early in the year to be this hot already, but Euryale thinks that every year. Yay, global warming! His butt sticks to the plastic seat of the RER on his way home. Gross. His shirt sticks to him as he walks out into the muggy night, back to his little apartment. Also gross. When he’s finally home, he’s so fed up with sticky, sweat-soaked clothes that he strips them off without thinking, plugging in one of their little electric fans and plopping himself down in front of it, closing his eyes in bliss. The cold tiles of the floor call his name and he lays back onto them, feeling more comfortable than he has all day.

When he hears keys in the door he stays where he is, too tired and hot move much. He just raises a hand in greeting.

“Hey, how was the rest of your day?”

Silence, and then a little cough. “Fine. Not rad, but like, finished another round of exploitative labor, then had a class about styling ‘natural’ hair and I’m like, duh, way ahead of you guys, been doing my own rad hair for years, and would definitely not pay white people to style it.”

Euryale chuckles. He hears Thésée clunking around in his big platform boots, then the swish of the curtains to his bedroom opening up, the rustling of clothes.

“You going out tonight?” he asks, cracking open an eye to peer over. He’s not one for going out so himself, but he likes to see Thésée put together one of his really cool outfits.

“Mm, yeah. Dunno for how long though. Maybe I’ll come home maybe, I won’t.”

Euryale’s stomach twinges unpleasantly. Thésée doesn’t always come home after a party. Sometimes he meets someone else to go home with. But he doesn’t bring people back to their place, since there’s not a lot of privacy, which Euryale appreciates, so why would the idea of Thésée meeting someone suddenly bother him?

“Who are you going with?” Euryale finds himself asking. He hopes his voice sounds normal. It should sound normal! There’s no reason why it wouldn’t. Thésée does this all the time . . . it’s normal! “Apollo?” He pictures Thésée finally getting the kiss he actually wanted last time with the actual rad boy . . . Thésée standing on his toes to reach Apollo’s mouth, his hands fisted in one of Apollo’s stupid black hoodies . . . wait, what?

“Er, yeah.” Thésée appears in his field of vision, sequined purple button-up shirt, thin gold chains around his neck, and black feathered mantle. His dreads are long enough that he pulls them into a ponytail sometimes these days, but tonight he’s decided to let them hang loose to frame his face. And there’s a light dusting of purple powder on his dark cheekbones that really brings out his amazing eyes . . .

“Well?” Thésée prompts, turning slowly for Euyrale to see the ensemble from every angle. High-waisted tight black pants and boots complete the look. “Is it too rad? Well, probably, but they should be grateful I bless them with my radness.”

Euryale’s throat feels a little tight as he squeaks out a reply. “Definitely too rad.” Too rad for Apollo . . . but if he looks too good for Apollo, he’s way too good for plain old Euryale. “Want me to take a picture for Pirithoos?”

Thésée pauses, then shrugs. “Nah, I’ll get one while I’m out. Radder backgrounds.” He tucks his keys and wallet into his purse, perches a pair of fake glasses on his nose to dull the effect of his eyes. He used to wear sunglasses to keep them secret, but he doesn’t want to hide himself as much anymore. Still, they’re a lot to handle . . . almost magical . . . Thésée clears his throat. “Uh, well, if I come back I promise I won’t drink enough to make me do something, uh, not rad.”

Heat floods Euryale’s face. He’s talking about that kiss again, the one they’re supposed to be forgetting. Well, he’s joking about it because obviously it was a joke of a kiss. Also, Euryale realizes, looking down at his own body to avoid looking at Thésée, he’s basically naked except for some stained white boxers. He must look ridiculous next to stunningly dressed Thésée, but they’ve been casual about nakedness before so it would probably look weird to put something on now . . . oh, right, Thésée is waiting for him to respond.

“Haha, well, I hope the good people of Paris tonight don’t make you want to vomit! Well, that’s kinda a low standard . . . I hope it’s a way better time!” He forces a smile.

“Um, thanks.” The door squeaks open on its hinges, but instead of clicking closed, there’s a pause. “Er, that party a couple days ago, it was rad. It was the vodka that made me barf.”

And then he’s gone, heels clacking down the stairs and into the street.

* * *

What did Euryale mean by lounging naked on their floor like that? Well, it was his apartment too and they’d both sat around in their underwear together before, but why did he do that _today_, right after Thésée had forbidden himself from looking at Euryale _that _way anymore?

Fuck, he sounds like a creepy victim-blamer. Let Euryale flaunt his arms and his chest and his cute little dark happy trail that leads to . . . no! Don’t sexualize Euryale, even just with objective distance! Find someone else who actually wants to play!

It’s no good though. At their second club of the night there’s an interesting prospect, but then she reaches over to touch Thésée’s dreads without permission. Not rad! Hard pass!

He barely drinks as well. Well, he doesn’t have any money, and no one is treating him, but he also definitely doesn’t want to go back to their apartment drunk. He doesn’t want to be drunk around Euryale again for a very long time.

Euryale wouldn’t touch his hair without permission . . . though apparently, he would kiss Euryale without permission.

Fuck.

Halfway through his first and only drink—cheapass gross beer that a friend spotted him—he ends up explaining his situation to Apollo. The accidental kiss, Euryale’s dedication to his best bro Nisus, how suddenly he’s been noticing how attractive Euryale actually is, even though he can’t act on anything . . . then he cuts off his ramble, finishing the rest of his drink in one gulp. Between the horrible taste and his recent alcohol related barfing, he gags, but it stays down.

“If you want to kiss him so badly, why don’t you just ask his permission next time?” Apollo blinks down at him, speaking slowly like Thésée's obtuse.

Thésée sputters, about to explain that he _doesn’t_ want to, that’s the whole damn point, when someone taps Apollo on the shoulders and draws his attention away.

Irritated with Apollo and himself, Thésée pushes his glass away and decides to call it a night.

On his way home in the RER, a little calmer now he’s away from the pounding music and crowds, he reconsiders Apollo’s words. Does he _want_ to kiss Euryale? Like, for example, if Euryale weren’t “taken” by Nisus in Thésée’s mind, would he want to try something with him? He obviously finds Euryale handsome. Once he watched a porn with a guy with a butt that he thought looked like Euryale’s, like . . . there’s definitely an element of attraction there. And Euryale is rad . . . not the supreme excellent radness of Pirithoos, but a quieter radness. Always there in your time of need, open to talking, a calming and friendly, but also smart and fun presence. If Euryale didn’t have Nisus . . . would they date?

And like . . . even if he did have Nisus, that wouldn't mean that they couldn’t date. After all, Thésée has Pirithoos. Also, their friends Achille, Patrocle, and Pandore have a polyamorous “v,” so it’s not like they’re lacking in models for nonmonogamy. Just because Thésée and Euryale have other people doesn’t mean that there aren’t possibilities to explore . . .

. . . possibilities that Euryale wouldn’t want to explore, he’s sure. And Thésée doesn’t want to make his roommate and best friend in Paris so uncomfortable he might want to end what they already have.

Thésée sighs and presses his face to the cold glass of the train window.

This whole situation is so not rad.

He needs back up.

Leaning back in his seat, Thésée pulls his phone out of his purse and hits the first number in his starred contacts.

“Hey, where’s the fire? I’m supposed to go on in thirty.” Pirithoos’ voice is difficult to make out amongst muffled electric twanging and screaming.

“Do you find Euryale attractive?” Thésée blurts.

A pause. “Meh.” Thésée can see him shrugging his broad shoulders nonchalantly. “He’s okay, I guess. Kinda . . . generic. Not bad, but not special.”

“That’s what I thought too, but then I drunk-kissed him.”

Another pause. “Well, you were drunk. Everyone looks better when you’re drunk. Even you, and you already always look decently amazing.”

Thésée knows he’s amazing, but it still his heart still skips a beat whenever Pirithoos says it, even when he’s trying to play it down with that little negging “decent.” “Well, thanks but like, I’m sober now and I’m still thinking about the kiss.”

“It makes sense, I guess. He’s a good friend, he’s pretty stable, he’s not bad to look at, and he already lives with you, so he’s convenient. But also, he’s so hung up on Nisus—,”

“I know!” Thésée groans slumping in his seat. “I sure as hell don’t want to be another Prince Nisus to Euryale, I just . . . I want to try kissing him again. And probably have some sex.”

Pirithoos snorts on the other end of the line. When he speaks, Thésée understands immediately that he’s amused, not annoyed. They’ve gotten pretty good at being open about their other relationships and sexcapades. “You’ll have to make the first move then; he’s so fucking oblivious.”

“Like some other people I could mention.” Thésée can’t resist a jibe.

“Hey! Do not put me on the same level as those masterminds of hiding shit from themselves, Euryale and Nisus. Ah, oh, shit, they’re waving me over. Something about a band meeting. Keep me posted.”

“Yes. And you keep me posted about Persephone! They still dating that asshole?”

Pirithoos sighs heavily. “Yes, but it’s kind of a complicated situation. I’ll—I’M COMING—ah sorry, I’ll explain later.”

“Break a leg . . . you’re rad, the band is rad, you can’t go wrong.”

“You know it.”

“I love you.”

“Yeah, love you too, byyye.”

There’s a click and Thésée's alone again. He stares at the now blank screen, pondering. Well, he has to tell Euryale now. There’s no point in secrets.

* * *

Thésée is home earlier than Euryale expected . . . well, actually, Euryale hadn’t expected him to come home at all. After his roommate left for the night, he’d put on some gym clothes out of sheer embarrassment, made himself some something to eat, and set himself in front of Netflix to distract himself from just how awkward he’d been. Thésée’s sudden appearance almost makes him jump of his skin, but he adjusts.

“No luck, huh?”

Thésée grunts, sitting down at the kitchen table with Euryale to pull off his shoes. “Too many assholes.”

“That sucks,” Euryale says, and means it. It does suck that people treated Thésée badly. Even Apollo? Maybe not. Still, Thésée is here and not out there . . . why is he comforted by that fact? He turns his attention back to his computer and tries not to think about it.

“Um, Euryale?”

He looks over, surprised by how tentative the usually straightforward Thésée sounds. His friend has removed his glasses and is pretending to polish them on his sparkly purple shirt. Not looking at him.

“You know, I'm not the kind to avoid facing something when I feel it.” His fingers go still on his glasses for a moment, and he breathes in deep, preparing himself. Why is Euryale’s heart suddenly beating faster? “I, er, didn’t really think about kissing you the other day, but I . . . I haven’t really stopped thinking about it since it happened. It probably freaks you out and the feeling is mutual, which is surprising considering our respective radness. Truth is, I’m curious about kissing you when I’m a bit more sober and also like, dunno, trying other things if you’d be interested, but I’d get if you weren’t. And don't spare my feelings if you think it's a bad idea. You’re the raddest roommate ever, and I want us to keep being friends. But not saying something about this was bothering me, you know?”

He says this speech in a rush, but at the end of it manages to meet Euryale’s gaze. Euryale feels like someone has knocked the wind out of him . . . not quite at the level of the Guffstar being removed, but maybe a close third. Thésée . . . wants to kiss him? Not Apollo? _Him?_

He must be staring stupidly at Thésée, who stands up and moves towards his “bedroom.” “I guess that’s a no then, er--,”

“Wait!” Without thinking, Euryale grabs Thésée’s wrist, tugging him gently back. His skin is soft, as it always is, but now Euryale notices it with a new jolt in his stomach. “Um, it’s not that I . . . don’t want to try kissing you again, it was, um, a surprisingly nice kiss, but I . . . I don’t know if I can . . .”

“What about Nisus, you mean?” Thésée supplies, softly.

Euryale sighs and nods. Thésée sits back down. He doesn’t move to pull his hand away, and Euryale doesn’t drop it; it just exists between them, a tentative connection.

“I didn’t promise Nisus I wouldn’t be with anyone else or anything . . . I’m not waiting for him, exactly . . . but I also hadn’t ever considered another person unless you count like, his magical boy form or something . . . so I guess I’m just a bit nervous . . . and you’re my friend and I don’t want to lose that . . . and you’re kinda with Pirithoos and he’s my friend too . . . even though you’re in an open relationship, it’s not something I’m used to, you know?”

Thésée nods. “No, I get it, I hadn’t really thought about it before either . . . I don’t want to give the alcohol all the credit though like, I’ve always thought that you were rad and rad to look at . . . and you know it doesn’t have to be more or like replace Nisus . . . I mean, I’ll always have Pirithoos myself, that never changes; it doesn’t have to permanent either we could just . . . try . . . if you want to kiss or something . . .” He trails off suggestively.

Euryale gulps.

“Uh . . . y-yes? Maybe, let’s try . . .”

He strokes a finger experimentally on Thésée’s wrist. Thésée shifts a bit in his seat, and steeling himself, Euryale slowly, cautiously leans forward. Is he really doing this? It’s really happening isn’t it? He’s going to kiss Thésée . . .

. . . Thésée who’s sliding a hand around his neck now and brushing his fingers against the nape of his neck. Thésée who’s wonderful eyes are so close to his face now they’re blurring together, whose warm breath is ghosting on his lips. Shutting off his thinking brain, he closes the final distance between them.

Maybe they’re both just touch-starved. Maybe this isn’t going to go anywhere else. But it’s surprisingly slow and soft and sparks something in his stomach. Thésée presses closer to him, practically falling off his chair, planting a hand on his chest that seems to burn through his clothes. If this is kissing . . . kissing feels good. Even better when Thésée’s mouth opens. Experimentally, Euryale slips his tongue into his friend’s mouth, and Thésée moans a little. Oh woah, Euryale can _feel_ that noise in his body all the way to his . . . fuck.

Euryale can’t help but gasp himself now, which Thésée takes as an invitation. He gets out his chair and onto Euryale’s lap to get even closer.

“Is this okay?” Thésée asks him, fingers still caressing the back of his neck.

Euryale takes a minute to really ask himself this question. Is it okay? “It’s moving a little bit faster than I, er, anticipated but er . . . I like it. I’d like to just, keep going like this for a bit, if it’s okay?”

“Rad! Me too!” Thésée grins at him, and then bends to kiss his neck.

Woah! That’s a lot! Are necks always this sensitive? It seemed like it, from watching movies, people always reacted strongly in movies. But in the porn he’d watched, they seemed to rush through this part. Why? It feels great! Maybe too great like, almost on the verge of tickling because he’s not used to being touched there, but when he relaxes a bit . . . amazing! Thésée starts sucking lightly just below his ear, and between that new sensation and Thésée moving around in his lap, he can feel himself growing hard . . .

. . . which makes him feel a bit selfish. If he enjoys this so much, maybe Thésée does too? Keeping his hand on the small of Thésée’s back to steady himself, he gently kisses the exposed part of Thésée’s neck.

Thésée gasps; what a nice sound! The grunting and moaning and sighing are Euryale’s favorite part of watching porn, though also the part he’s most shy about . . . he doesn’t watch a lot of porn, to be fair, just because he worries that someone will be able to hear those amazing noises coming of his headphones . . . but this is real life, it’s just him and Thésée alone in their apartment, and _he’s_ helping Thésée feel so good he makes those noises.

“Go, ah, harder,” Thésée instructs, nails digging into Euryale’s shoulder. “You can even, um, bite. If you want.”

Obliging and curious, Euryale gently nips a bit of exposed skin near Thésée’s collar bone. There’s a sharp intake of breath. “A bit harder.” Euryale complies, licking up to his jawline and biting there. Thésée groans again and bucks into Euryale. There’s a kind of shared pleasure in it, Euryale finds. Thésée obviously enjoys it, and Euryale is pleased to help. It’s almost a bit sweeter to kiss than be kissed? Hm, no, Euryale decides when he Thésée kisses him on the mouth once more, sloppy and a bit frantic now, it’s equally good.

Very good. Thésée slides a hand up Euryale’s shirt, running his fingers across his torso. Wanting to touch him back Euryale starts carefully unbuttoning Thésée’s fancy shirt, careful because he doesn’t want to damage it. Thésée breaks the kiss to watch him, smirking.

“You still up for this?”

Euryale pauses in his work, genuinely considering. As soon as he pauses, the reality of what he’s doing crashes down on him. He’s about to have sex with Thésée, his friend and roommate, after they just kissed for the first time. Does that mean he’s romantically interested in Thésée, or is he just experimenting? How does this affect his feelings for Nisus? Well, he still has those obviously, they never change. And he feels good, touching Thésée and being touched back . . . is that enough? How will Nisus feel about this, even though they’ve agreed to go their separate ways for the time being? And what if . . . what if he’s _bad_ at sex? Thésée seems to be enjoying himself now and Euryale wants to help him, but is there a way that someone can be just plain bad at sex? All Euryale has ever done before today is had a very emotional goodbye kiss with Nisus and masturbating quickly and embarrassedly to porn. He doesn’t even masturbate that often, not as much as someone his age is supposed to. Does that make him weird?

“Hello-ooo? Earth to Euryale?” Thésée waves his hand in Euryale’s face, interrupting his buzzing hive of thoughts. “You can say no if you want. I’d be disappointed but I can deal.”

“And we’d still be friends?” Euyrale blurts, getting at the heart of something that’s worrying him. He likes living with Thésée; they’ve always just kind of gelled and he doesn’t want to risk that.

Thésée smiles fondly at him. It makes Euryale's heart skip.

“Yeah. It might be awkward but like, you’re really rad and I’m radness incarnate, so I have faith in us. I believe.”

Euryale chuckles at that. “I’m flattered you find me so rad.”

Thésée cups Euryale’s face. “You. Are. Rad. And you’re a rad kisser. You get the hang of things pretty quickly, I like that. I’m pretty horny right now, so I’d like to have sex, but I’d get it if it’s not really what you want. It’s okay.”

A new kind of warmth seeps into Euryale’s chest, lodging itself in his bones. Thésée likes his kisses! Well, Euryale likes kissing Thésée. Maybe that’s enough for right now, and he can ask himself all those questions about what he’s doing later.

“Let’s keep going.”

* * *

Thésée doesn’t want to rush Euryale, is surprised that he wants to keep going, but Euryale’s consent seems sincere. And Thésée is turned on . . . almost embarrassingly so. The chemistry is stronger than he anticipated, but well, Euryale is kind, eager, and attractive, and Thésée knows he has an amazingly rad body and a very skilled tongue, so obviously there’s a lot of potential here. Probably he _should_ have anticipated this.

They go back to kissing, Euryale slowly running his hand over Thésée’s chest, under his shirt. It feels nice, sends a little shiver down Thésée’s spine, but it goes on for a little longer than he’d thought it would . . . like they’re a bit a stuck. Seizing the initiative, Thésée kisses from Euryale’s neck to his ear and then whispers. “Touch my nipple.”

Euryale immediately responds, cautiously circling his thumb around one of Thésée’s nipples. It’s gentle and subtle, and that’s erotic in and of itself, but it’s not quite what he’s in the mood for at the moment. He doesn’t want to push Euryale, but maybe he could suggest? “Ah! Euryale, that’s a rad—ah!—touch; push a bit harder?”

Euryale complies, pressing his thumb into Thésée’s now rapidly hardening nipple. Thésée groans, “Yeah, just like that,” and Euryale smiles. Wishing to share the favor, Thésée experimentally touches Euryale’s nipple through his shirt. Euryale starts, stiffens, and then bites his lip. Thésée presses harder himself, watching Euryale closely. “Have you touched yourself here before? When you masturbate?”

“N-no,” Euryale stutters, shaking his head. “Never. I, ah, I usually j-just touch my . . . penis.”

Oh. _Oh_.

“Practical,” Thésée comments wryly. Euyrale is frowning now, still biting his lip. Thésée softens his touch but Euryale’s expression doesn’t change. “Do you, uh, like this Euryale?”

A shrug. “It’s . . . okay, but like . . . _a lot_, somehow.”

“Too much?”

Euryale gives another jerky shrug. Then nods. “Y-yeah. Too much.”

Thésée immediately removes his fingers.

“Is it okay for you?” Euryale asks, rubbing Thésée’s nipples so hard it’s almost pinching. Momentarily lost for words (a real rarity), Thésée nods and kisses Euryale on the mouth again.

It quickly becomes obvious that Euryale will happily do whatever Thésée asks, but every touch on his own body, even the neck, is rapidly overwhelming. Thésée tries palming his dick through his pants (since Euryale apparently only ever masturbates with his dick), and at first that’s fine—good even! Euryale turns red and makes adorable whining moans, breaking off their kiss and scrunching up his face. But then Euryale turns too red. “Uh-ah-um! It’s very . . . very nice but it’s still a lot, everything is pretty overwhelming.”

Thésée sighs and sits Euryale’s arms. “Okay,” he begins, thinking aloud. “How would you feel about just touching me and helping me for a bit then? Like, try touching my dick and licking my nipple?”

“Yeah!” Euryale beams at him. “I’d like to do that. Could you take off your shirt though?” He looks down shyly. “Er, I’d like to see your body.”

“Of course, you would,” Thésée sheds the sparkly garment without a second thought, then stands up and pulls down his tight pants as well. “My legs are pretty great too. Plus easier access.”

Euryale laughs, obviously charmed. It makes Thésée’s heart flutter a bit. He doesn’t need someone else to tell him his worth, but it’s nice to be appreciated.

Carefully, Euryale traces a finger along Thésée’s stomach and hipbones, then gently brushes his pubic hairs. “You’re amazing.”

“I know. And you’re amazing too.”

Euryale shifts awkwardly in his seat. “Um, thanks. I don’t feel that way though. I mean, I don’t feel bad, I just don’t feel . . . special. I’m average. And I’m okay with that it just sometimes feels like . . . it’s hard to imagine me having sex, especially like . . . with someone like you.”

He doesn’t say “Or Nisus,” but Thésée knows that’s what’s in his head. He frowns, considering.

“I think your body is really rad, Euryale, and like sex isn’t just about being cool or great it’s about . . . chemistry and being open and willing. Not that you can’t say no more like . . . getting into that really rad state of _wanting_. Enjoying yourself. So like, think about how awesome I am, but comparing yourself is going to be a problem.”

An idea occurs to him, and he snaps his fingers. “What if, I sit behind you and touch you? Then you can’t see me and all my radness, but you could still touch me and hear me and feel me, and maybe it would help you let go?”

Euryale looks thoughtful. “Could work. But how will I touch you at the same time?”

“Let’s try something.”

After some maneuvering, they end up on Thésée’s bed, naked, sitting with Euryale reaching behind himself to touch Thésée’s dick, and Thésée kissing and biting his neck while his other hand scratches Euryale’s thigh. Euryale does seem to enjoy this, lolling his head back against Thésée’s shoulder, moaning and sighing again. He starts at too fast a pace for jerking Thésée off, but he slows down when Thésée points out the problem.

“S-sorry,” Euryale groans. “I k-kinda go fast with myself.”

“But ah! You don’t like to go fast with another person, eh? I haven’t even touched you yet.”

“Yeah, I th-think when you do, it’ll uh . . . ah! It’ll be fast.”

Experimentally, Thésée offers his fingers for Euryale to suck, and Euryale takes them, moaning around them and licking them in a very arousing way. His mouth is wet and warm . . . it would surely feel nice wrapped around his dick . . . yes . . . but no, not right now, as much as thought makes Thésée’s very hard dick even wetter, they’re doing something else right now. He wants to try something.

Slowly, carefully, Thésée puts his now wet fingers around Euryale’s dick. That alone makes Euryale shudder and gasp, arcing his hips up and pumping Thésée a little too fast again. Groaning into Euryale’s shoulder, Thésée slowly rubs Euryale up and down, which makes Euryale actually whimper, his whole body shaking.

“Too much?” Thésée asks in a raspy voice. Euryale is pumping him very insistently now, and it’s extremely distracting, but he has to check.

“Y-yes, but I like it. Please, keep . . . keep going?”

Thésée doesn’t need to be told twice. He keeps going up and down, slowly, tightening his grip ever-so-slightly. Euryale gasps and writhes a bit in his arms. “Okay, ah! Thésée! Can you go f-faster? It’s too-oo m-much this way.”

“Yeah? O-okay.” He tightens his own shaking arm around Euryale’s chest, positioning himself to hold Euryale in place.

“I-is this speed okay for you?” Euryale gasps out.

“Hmm yeah, it’s okay to go this fast now. Can you hold a bit tighter though, and Ah! Y-yeah.” When Euryale’s fingers clench around him, pleasure fizzles through his legs. “Like that and c-closer to the tip. Y-yeah. Exactly like that, Euryale!”

Euryale smiles. He really likes to help, Thésée realizes. There’s a lot they could do with that. But now to see if Euryale can come. Thésée tightens his own grip around Euryale and starts pumping him very quickly.

Euryale sits up, his head back and mouth hanging wide open. Oh god, he’s really, really nice to look at when he’s having such a good time like . . . wow. “Yeah, uhnnn, yeaaaaah.” His hips start jerking erratically, his noises getting louder. He must be so close. Just watching him be close puts Thésée closer to the edge himself. On instinct, he bites Euryale’s neck—not too hard but there’s a bit of force behind it, and pumps Euryale for all he’s worth. Euryale let’s out a high pitched whine and doubles down on stroking Thésée’s cock.

“Almost, ah! Almost there . . . Euryale.”

Euryale whimpers. “I’msorrysorrysorry AHHHHHHH!”

Cum spurts all over Euryale’s belly and he shakes, still mumbling his litany of apologies, collapsing back into Thésée. His hand stops for just a brief second and then continues, sloppily, shakily. Thésée grabs his hand and removes it, maneuvers himself out from under Euryale’s and then stands by the bed with Euyrale blinky hazily up at him.

“Watch,” Thésée instructs, and then starts stroking himself with one hand while his other hand touches his balls. It doesn’t take long for him to be close gain, especially not with a cum splattered Euryale watching him with dozy awe, his dick stirring and reddening quickly again.

On a hunch, Thésée gasps out, “Touch yourself again.”

And Euryale, always happy to help, complies, his eyes fluttering shut as he palms his erection for Thésée. Fuck, what a rad sight. Euryale is flushed and sweaty and staring at Thésée, who loves to be stared at, and suddenly, with a great shout, Thésée comes himself, wracked with immense convulsions. He drops onto the bed beside Euryale, who is tugging at his dick furiously.

“Ca-can you come again?” Thésée asks, already impressed that Euryale can touch himself so quickly after orgasm.

“May-maybe . . . I . . . yeah . . . um . . . oh. . . . ah! Sorry! I . . .” His hips rise off the bed. Thésée leans over to kiss and bite the side closest to him and then Euryale is exploding again, apologizing and twitching. Thésée grins tiredly.

“Why do you say sorry? Do you do that when you’re alone?”

Breathing heavily, still red in the face, Euryale shakes his head. “N-no? It’s new.”

Thésée scooches closer to him and lays against his side, one leg over Euryale’s hip and his face in his neck. He keeps his sticky hands to himself though. “Who do you apologize to? Me? Or Nisus? Or yourself?”

There’s a long silence. Finally, Euryale whispers. “You. Well not, you like, Thésée-you specifically, just . . . because you’re here. And I’m coming and maybe you wanted me to last longer, erh? Or maybe I took too long?”

Thésée shakes his head. “Nothing to be sorry for. It’s kinda cute to hear but like, you don’t have to apologize. Though you should tell Nisus about . . . all this.”

Euryale shifts a little, clearly feeling a bit awkward. Is this bad pillowtalk? No, being open and talking about things could never be bad. “You think?” Euryale finally asks.

“Hell yeah, like, again I don’t think you have to apologize but like, it’s gonna come up eventually when you do see each other again. I think it’d be weirder if you hid it, even for Nisus’ sake.”

“You’ll tell Pirithoos?”

“Obviously.”

Euryale laughs. “Good. I mean, I figured you would . . . like, I know we’re not a secret it just feels a bit weird . . . um. Was it nice?”

Thésée kisses Euryale on the shoulder. “Yes. Hella nice.”

“Was it rad?” Euryale is grinning.

“Hella rad! Was it nice for you?”

“Yes. Hella rad also. You’re hella rad and . . . I feel good. About us. About doing this and I . . . I think I would like to try again.”

“Not right now,” Thésée snorts. “You have some kind of magic dick or something, I dunno if I can keep up with you.”

Euryale giggles. “Pff. You last longer though, I dunno if I can keep up with you!”

“Is that a challenge?” Thésée raises his eyebrows. Euryale chuckles and shrugs.

“Sure.”

“Okay, challenge accepted! But tomorrow. Rad sex exhausts me, I need my beauty sleep.”

A little bit later, as he’s cleaning up and brushing his teeth, he hears his phone ding. And ding again and again and again. Sticking his toothbrush in his mouth, he picks up his phone and see five new messages from Pirithoos.

_Hey did you talk with euryale? did u tell him?_

_you did i know u._

_what did he saaaaaayyyy???_

_did you do something?_

_and if you did do something what did you do?_

Ahhh, as usual, Pirithoos’ initial chill was partly a façade. He knows that Pirithoos is serious about wanting them to be truly open, and he is happy when Thésée has fun, just as Thésée is happy for him. But insecurities still remain, and he just needs to be reassured right now.

_i talked to him and we did have sex_

_it was really rad, really fun_

_buuuut_

_not the kind of amazing super awesome radness that we have_

_no one can beat your radness_

_also we’re going to sleep in the same bed tonight_

_his bed because we kinda messed up my sheets_

_Euryale can have multiple orgasms but he doesn’t last long_

_new facts_

Almost immediately he sees the dots that Pirithoos is typing.

_Repressed. Definitely repressed_

_he owes you_

_not sure he’ll be able to do that all the time, come back to me when you’ve run more tests _

_need a bigger data sample :P_

Thésée grins at the thought.

_haha yeah, I dunno what he would do without me_

_And yes, I’ll keep your informed of new developments_

_And I miss you_

_And I loveyou_

A pause. Thésée spits, rinses out his mouth, and returns to Euryale’s bed, where his friend is lying on top of the covers, already snoring lightly. Then his phone dings again.

_Love you too._

**Author's Note:**

> Helloooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo everyone :) Thanks for reading!!!!
> 
> I wrote this fic for Mirandafandomette sometime ago based on their excellent webcomic [Eros Academy](https://tapas.io/series/Eros-Academy)! This link is to the English version, but you can find the French version at https://professeuryawa.tumblr.com/.
> 
> Thésée and Euryale are my fav characters and I started kinda shipping them even though they're not one of the canonical couples, and with T.Pralinus' blessing I have imagined how they might start to become a couple here.
> 
> I know that not everything is perfectly perfect, but I think it's hard for every relationship to actually be perfect? And poly especially requires work and communication. Here I tried to represent some young people falling into a poly relationship. 
> 
> More to come soon :)


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